Firstly, I would like to address the elephant in the room — COVID-19 to say the least has completely flipped many of our lives upside down. Knowing that, I’ve decided to immerse myself in working on this blog and some Instagram looks in order to cope during this time. I hope that you can escape along with me, even if it’s just a few minutes sporadically throughout the week.
Now let’s begin…
Jasmine Green Tea Balancing Toner
vs. Rose Hibiscus Hydrating Mist
Background Information on Herbivore Botanicals:
Like many great brands, Herbivore Botanicals come from a really humble beginning — they started off as a in-the-kitchen operation of making natural soaps, then grew into a local farmer’s market stand and then progressed into an Etsy shop prior to hitting the mass markets such as Sephora, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie.
Herbivore as a brand has definitely established their first impressions with simplistic and aesthetically pleasing packaging. Their items are often packaged in either dreamy colored uni-cartons bordered with white or simply white boxes. The items themselves usually feature pastel colored fluids and creams inside translucent glass bottles with white accents.
Jasmine Green Tea Balancing Toner ($39):
Purchase Here
The first one up for discussion is the Jasmine Green Tea Balancing Toner. This toner is definitely geared more towards someone that has oilier skin.
The best example of this would be if you use a non-acne based cleanser, have slightly congested skin, and get oily rather quickly (within one or two hours of washing your face).
This toner features a few different key ingredients,
so let’s break it down one at a time:
The Jasmine Flower Water which is the main ingredient helps with clarifying, soothing and balancing the moisture levels in the skin.
The Witch Hazel Flower Water is the astringent in the formula, in the long haul it helps with skin recovery, reduction in inflammation and helps to tighten up wide pores.
The third ingredient is Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, which supplements hydration in the skin to help balance and prevent any dryness or flakiness. Aloe is one of those ingredients that have been in the market for a really long time, commonly used for sun burns, inflammation, or swelling.
Next up are two antioxidant powerhouses, White Tea Extract and Green Tea Extract. The white tea is a powerful fighter against free radical damage that generally stresses the skin, while the other antioxidant, green tea helps with reducing oiliness in the skin.
And the last two ingredients to highlight are Ginger Root and White Willow Bark. Ginger Root helps with redness and irritation reduction while the white willow bark serves as a natural alternative to Salicylic Acid to help treat existing blemishes.
Bonus Ingredient: Jasminum Grandiflorum Floral Extract is highly regarded for it’s antimicrobial properties, to help keep bacteria from entering the skin which is the prime cause for acne skin.
Rose Hibiscus Hydrating Mist ($32): Purchase Here
This Rose Hibiscus Hydrating Mist is one of the most versatile products in terms of how many skin types it’s compatible with. If you fit in any other category of skin type other than the one previously discussed under the Jasmine Green Tea Balancing Toner portion, then this toner is for you.
The most common and most ideal skin type for this product is if you have combination skin, where your T-Zone is particularly oily and everywhere else is dry or dehydrated.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these ingredients:
This mist starts with a blend of Water, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, and Rosa Damascena Flower Water.
The second ingredient, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water was previously mentioned and plays a huge part in refilling our dermis’ hydration reservoir to promote better pH balanced skin.
The third ingredient is Rosa Damascena Flower Water, also known as organic damask rose water. This particular type of bulgarian rose water contains antioxidants and antimicrobial properties.
Next up in this toner is Sodium Phytate, which is often used to replace EDTA as a product stabilizer. Sodium Phytate can also help to moisturize skin in the long run.
The next two ingredients Sodium Hyaluronate and Glycerin are often regarded as the hydration heros for the skin. Glycerin is an easily absorbed humectant for the epidermal layer and helps to hold hydration in while the sodium hyaluronate creates a hydration cushion to help boost overall hydration levels.
This toner also contains two age-reversing ingredients. The first being Coconut Fruit Powder which contains similar ingredients to coconuts, featuring high contents of natural fatty acids as well as vitamins and minerals to help restore the natural glow in skin. The second ingredient is the Hibiscus Flower Extract which is well known for it’s high concentration of Vitamin C and antioxidants to heal the skin of free radical damage.
Bonus Ingredient: Coccinia Indica Fruit Extract also known as Ivy Gourd is a natural skin conditioning agent and is also suppose to create a shield to prevent imbalance on the surface of the skin.
The Final Three: Three Ingredients on Repeat
Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate: when radish root is fermented with leuconostoc a microorganism from lactic acid. This serves as a natural preservative to prevent a water based product from growth.
Melia Azadirachta Leaf Extract: an extract from India’s Neem Plant, it can be an emollient, an antiseptic and an anti-acne ingredient.
Melia Azadirachta Flower Extract: an antioxidant extract of the ‘chinaberry’ plant which is really effective in neutralizing free radicals.
Final Thoughts:
Herbivore toners in my opinion are beautiful products. Each one is meticulously formulated in small-batches and geared towards a different audience without making a decision overwhelming.
Ultimately, to choose between the two, you have to have a good understanding of your skin’s natural chemistry. Does your skin need more of a treatment, or does it just require more hydration? Is your skin congested due to oil or an overdue exfoliation treatment for your dry skin?
In my point of view, the green tea toner works more like a treatment, to treat over production of oil which leads to congestion and white heads. While the rose hibiscus toner works more like a hydration replenishment for skin that is dehydrated, flaky, and congested due to rough dry patches.
Coming in at the $30-$40 range, this would be an average to slightly above average pricing for a toner in any person’s skincare routine. However, with a misting mechanism, this product will be looking pretty on your vanity for a while since very little is needed to coat the skin.
If you are in doubt, I would recommend purchasing the Rose Hibiscus Hydrating Mist since it will help with minor acne breakouts, deep hydration, and healing on the upper layers of your skin in the long run.
Link to Purchase: Herbivore Rose Hibiscus Hydrating Mist $32
Link to Purchase: Herbivore Jasmine Green Tea Balancing Toner $39
Disclaimer: Please note that all images are my own and not intended for any copyright infringement. If you would like to use my images please just ask for permission. All images and links are affiliated, meaning that with every purchase it will generate a tiny commission for the referral. This post is not sponsored and not paid for, all opinions are my own and always will be.